Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has addressed the National Press Club on the ALP’s approach to economic policy.

Listen to Bowen’s speech (24m – transcript below)

Listen to Bowen take questions (37m)

Watch Bowen’s complete appearance (61m)

Transcript of Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen’s Address to the National Press Club.

THE END OF AUSTRALIAN EXCEPTIONALISM?

I first acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and acknowledge elders past and present and emerging, as well as re-commit myself to the task of eradicating Indigenous disadvantage in Australia. [Read more…]

The Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen, has delivered a speech in defence of openness in trade and immigration, and against nativist populism.

Addressing the Crescent Institute, Bowen said: “In the United States, Europe and recently in Australia, simple solutions are being proposed to solve complex problems.”

Bowen said he wanted to make “the case for trade and immigration… for an outward looking, modern nation, at peace with itself and comfortable with the world around us.”

He said “the believers in a connected world” also need “to meet the concerns of those who are hurting” and who are tempted by “the chimera of a solution proposed by those who are speedily trying to raise the national drawbridge”. [Read more…]

Just under a third of the seats in the House of Representatives were decided on first preference (primary) votes at the 2016 Federal Election.

By definition, these seats are the most secure for the various parties, since preference distribution cannot change the result. The winner has already secured an absolute majority of at least 50%+1 over every other candidate.

Of the 150 electorates, 48 (32%) were won on the primary vote. There were 53 such seats (35%) at the 2013 election. In 2004, 89 seats (59%) were decided on first preferences.

The Liberal Party was most successful, winning 27 of the 48 seats (56%), including 12 in NSW. The Liberal wins covered 4 states.

The Nationals won 5 seats (10%), including 3 in NSW, giving the coalition 32, or 67% of the total.

The ALP won 16 (33%) of the seats, including 10 in NSW. It won 6 seats in Victoria, but failed to win any more in other states or territories.

Seats Won On Primary Votes – 2016 Federal Election

Party

NSW

Vic

Qld

WA

Total

Liberal Party

12

8

4

3

27

The Nationals

3

2

5

Australian Labor Party

10

6

16

TOTAL

25

16

4

3

48

NSW was the only state to have a majority of seats (25 of 47, or 53%) won on primary votes. In Victoria, 16 seats out of 37 (43%) were won on first preferences. Western Australia recorded 19% and Queensland 13%.

The two smallest states, South Australia and Tasmania, had no seats decided on primaries. The four seats in the two territories all went to preferences. [Read more…]

The ALP has released its election costings, projecting that they would balance the Budget in 2020-21, the same year as the government.

The Opposition’s “Fiscal Plan” proposes $10.5 billion more savings than spending over the decade. However, the Budget bottom line will be $16.5 billion worse over the 4-year Forward Estimates.

The ALP says: “The more modest fiscal consolidation over the forward estimates of around 0.2 per cent of GDP per year (on average) is more than made up for by Labor’s structural savings over the medium term. Labor’s approach to budget management has fairness at its core, and will not seek to fix the Liberals’ budget mess by attacking family budgets. We will budget transparently and honestly.”

The costings were released in Sydney by the Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen, and the Shadow Finance Minister, Tony Burke. The Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, is in Gladstone. The release was announced during Prime Minister Turnbull’s campaign launch and took place at 1.00pm, shortly after Turnbull finished.

Speaking in Penrith, in the western Sydney seat of Lindsay, Shorten gave a speech light on new promises but heavy on appeals to the Labor faithful. Defence of Medicare was a constant theme of the speech, with Shorten paying homage to former prime minister Bob Hawke’s role in establishing the scheme in 1983.

The proceedings began with a speech by Emma Husar, the ALP candidate for Lindsay. Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen and Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek also spoke.[Read more…]

Scott Morrison and Chris Bowen have met in a Treasurers Debate at the National Press Club.

The debate came at the end of a week in which the government has sought to focus attention on ALP costings in the election campaign.

Scott Morrison has been Treasurer since last September, when Malcolm Turnbull overthrew Tony Abbott as prime minister. Chris Bowen, a minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments, was briefly Treasurer in the second Rudd government in 2013. [Read more…]